


caught up in the middle of a headache and a heartbreak

by QueenIsabelle



Series: night visions [6]
Category: Frozen (Disney Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/M, High School Musical References, Jelsa - Freeform, Jelsa Week 2019, Karaoke AU, Modern AU, Singing, elsa is a confident drunk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-26 00:14:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21364996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenIsabelle/pseuds/QueenIsabelle
Summary: Jelsa Week 2019Prompt Day 6: SongElsa goes out with her sister and friends to a karaoke bar. There’s a session where they randomly pair people up, a la High School Musical, and she’s paired up with Jack, her work nemesis.
Relationships: Anna & Elsa (Disney), Elsa (Disney)/Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood)
Series: night visions [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1535909
Kudos: 50





	caught up in the middle of a headache and a heartbreak

**Author's Note:**

> I am like 50 minutes late because my laptop broke, and I had to get a new one. But I persevered and wrote this in two hours, yolo.
> 
> Side note: one more day to go! Whoo!

* * *

On a typical Friday night, Elsa Winters would be at home in sweatpants with a carton of chocolate ice cream, rewatching episodes of _Parks and Rec_ and working on her latest article. It was a long-standing ritual, and a comforting one at that. Anna called it boring.

Anna often complained that her elder sister was boring. She needled and whined and poked at Elsa every Thursday night, attempting to get her to join in on Anna’s party plans. Typically, Elsa refused. But that week had been rough. She had had several fights with another staff writer in her office, her favorite blouse had been ruined by the aforementioned staff writer’s coffee, and it had been a long time since she had ‘let her hair out of that stiff bun.’ So she’d agreed.

Now, sitting at a table in the middle of a crowded karaoke bar, Elsa was seriously regretting it.

“Come on, Els, loosen up!” Merida, one of her and Anna’s friends since childhood, reached across the table and punched her arm. Elsa rubbed at her arm and took a sip of her drink, glaring at the redhead.

“Oh, and will you be gracing us with a performance tonight, Mer?” Elsa nodded her head up at the stage where Anna and Rapunzel, their cousin, were doing a rendition of "Total Eclipse of the Heart." They were both great singers but were clearly not taking the singing too seriously, as Anna deepened her voice for the male parts and Rapunzel raised hers to sound even more girlish. Elsa winced as Rapunzel hit a particularly high note.

“God, no! I’d rather staple my tongue,” Merida said, her Scottish accent becoming more pronounced in her excitement. Elsa grinned.

“So we’re in agreement then?” she asked.

Merida raised an eyebrow. “Agreement in what?”

“We won’t let Anna convince either one of us to get up on that stage,” Elsa said primly.

“Oh, no,” Merida said, shaking her head. A particularly wild flip of hair smacked her across the face with her curls. “I am not getting in Anna’s way tonight. You’re her victim. I am but a lowly bystander.”

“Ever heard of bystander intervention?”

“Slept through that portion of the university-mandated health class.”

“Merida! Come on!”

“Oh, please, you can actually sing! It won’t be embarrassing for you,” Merida said, giving Elsa a look.

“The hell it won’t!”

“One little bat of your eyelashes and you’ll have four different marriage proposals.”

Elsa rolled her eyes. Merida copied the action mockingly. Applause rang through the bar as Anna and Rapunzel finished up their song. Anna gave several dramatic bows as Rapunzel dragged her off the stage and over to their table.

Anna flopped down in the seat next to Elsa, cheeks flushed with pride. “So what did you think?”

“I think you had a lot of fun,” Elsa said, taking another sip of her drink. Despite having a strong desire to drink her ass off for stress relief, Elsa was determined to be responsible and stick with the one gin cocktail.

“We did! Right, Rapunzel?” Anna turned to Rapunzel who nodded enthusiastically as she downed a glass of water.

“We killed it! If there was a record producer here in the audience, they would totally sign us to a label,” she said. Elsa and Anna laughed while Merida looked on in concern.

“You are kidding, right?” Merida asked.

“Oh my God, yes, Mer.” Rapunzel threw her arm around the Scot’s shoulders as she laughed. The conversation paused as the waitress brought their food over, baskets filled with nachos and fries. After setting a bottle of ketchup down and checking that their drinks were okay, the girl left with a smile. Elsa grabbed one of the fry baskets and opened up the ketchup bottle.

“So what song should we sing, Elsa?” Anna asked. Elsa squeezed the bottle too hard and squirted ketchup onto the table.

“Shit,” she muttered, grabbing some napkins from the dispenser. She grimaced as she tried to clean the gooey, sugar-y mess from the table and glanced up at Anna. “Anna, I really don’t feel comfortable singing.”

“I know,” Anna said. “That’s why you’re singing with me.”

“I don’t want to sing at all,” Elsa said. Anna groaned.

“But we came to a karaoke bar!”

“You didn’t tell me where we were going!”

“Because I knew you wouldn’t come if I said we were going to a karaoke bar!”

Elsa gave Anna an unimpressed look. Anna sighed.

“Look,” she said, “if you don’t want to spend all Fridays for the rest of your life on the couch, you have to be open to new experiences.” Elsa opened her mouth to retort—she enjoyed her Fridays on the couch, thank you very much—an unwanted presence appeared at the table.

“Hey, Punzie, great performance up there,” Jack Frost said, smiling amicably at the brunette.

“Jack!” Rapunzel cried, getting up and throwing her arms around the newcomer. Elsa pursed her lips and crossed her arms. What the hell was that annoying staff writer doing here? “I thought you guys weren’t coming this week? Something about a bachelor party?”

“Yeah, for Hiccup. We were supposed to go on a weekend trip, but Astrid got sick and Hiccup insisted that he had to take care of her. So instead of being gone for two and a half days, we thought we’d take Hiccup out tonight, so he can go back and hang out with someone he actually cares about,” Jack said. Hiccup, a tall man with shaggy hair, came up behind Jack and rolled his eyes.

“I’m not going to abandon my sick fiancée,” he said dryly.

“Go sit at the table,” Jack said, shoving his friend. Hiccup pretended to stumble away, flipping Jack off from behind his back. “So yeah, I’m here, but not really. I have to attempt to live up to my best man duties. But hey, if you want to do our signature duet, Anna, just give a holler.” He winked at Anna, who laughed. His gaze travelled over to Elsa and froze, as if he was just now noticing her. Who knows, perhaps he was. Jack Frost was a self-centered prick, after all.

“Hello, Jack,” Elsa said formally, gripping her glass tightly in her hand.

Jack nodded. “Elsa.” He disappeared shortly after that, bidding her friends goodbye and avoiding her eyes. Elsa waited approximately a minute before glaring at her so-called friends.

“What was that?” she demanded. Merida and Rapunzel looked down guiltily, while Anna gave a shrug as if to say, _Oops_. Elsa got up from her seat.

“I need another drink.” If Jack Frost was in this bar, this night was going to go south quickly.

* * *

The five-year rivalry between Elsa Winters and Jack Frost at _The Guardian,_ the main news outlet for the city of Burgess, was the stuff of legends. There were rumors of what started it and why it was so intense and ‘perhaps it was a love affair gone wrong!’ Elsa would be the first to tell you that all of that was bullshit. Nothing had happened between her and Jack. She just didn’t like him.

For one, he was incredibly childish and immature. He fancied himself a prankster and a joker. On their second day at the job—because, yes, they did start at the same time—he had somehow managed to put her computer mouse into a mold of Jell-O. (“It’s from _The Office_! It’s hilarious!”) He blew off his assignments, not getting them done until the last minute, which was just annoying. And he flirted with anything that moved: men, women, the 105-year old lady who had come in for Elsa to do a spotlight on. It irked her to no end.

And Elsa hated this all the more because Jack was a good writer. He had so much potential. His tone was familiar and entertaining to read. He had a good eye for stories. People listened to what he had to say. If he simply took more initiative, Jack could easily have had a column or even an editor position. And yet, he brushed it all off as if it was nothing.

Elsa would kill to have the ease with which he wrote, or the charisma that could command a room, or the personality that made people like you. But she had none of that, and she had to fight tooth and nail for the position she does have. It was exhausting to put on an air of perfection, and to see someone coast by just for being pretty and charming? It was enough to make anyone bitter.

So, no, Elsa did not like Jack, and that was her side of the story. As for why he didn’t like her, that was anyone’s guess. And Elsa simply didn’t care. (At least, she pretended she didn’t.)

* * *

“Elsa, please don’t be mad!” Anna begged, watching as Elsa took a long pull from her third drink of the night. The blonde simply wiped her mouth and looked at her sister.

“I just don’t get why you felt the need to lie to me,” she said. That was the part to hurt the most, to be honest. Was she really so terrible that her own sister preferred the company of Jack Frost to her?

“Because you hate Jack,” Anna said. Elsa shrugged and stirred her drink. “I didn’t want you to hate me.”

Elsa let out a bitter laugh. “If you think that I would ever let a boy come between us, then I clearly did something wrong as a sister.” She got up, ignoring Anna’s pleas, and made her way to the bar area. Despite the strong urge to drink away this night, Elsa did not feel like nursing a hangover the next morning.

“Alright, ladies, gentlemen, and those who have yet to make up their mind, we have a special round of karaoke coming up,” the emcee announced. Elsa reached the counter and shouted for a water over the roar of the crowd. The bartender nodded to let her know that her request was heard, so Elsa turned around to face the stage. While karaoke may not have been her personal cup of tea, it was fun to see people who were passionate about performing up there.

“This idea was brought to us by a frequent customer, who shall not be named for various reasons. It was inspired by the opening scene of a little movie-musical called… _High School Musical_! Anyone remember?” Cheers and shouts went out in response. Elsa wracked her brain, but it had been years since Anna had made her watch the Disney movie. Wasn’t it a holiday or something?

“Okay, so basically, my two minions out in the crowd, Sarah and Tanner, are going to pick out a person each for a total of two people. These two random people will then come up and sing a duet. How does that sound?” More cries of affirmation. Elsa was beginning to get a headache. She would have to take some ibuprofen when she got back to the table. Behind her, something cold was set beside her shoulder. She turned to see her water bottle, slid the money to the bartender, and took a long gulp. Her throat was surprisingly dry, despite all of the drinks that had previously been consumed.

“I choose you!” a voice said, a hand clamping down around Elsa’s wrist. Elsa looked over to see a shorter girl with dimples smiling brightly at her. “Come on! This is going to be so much fun!” The girl had a strong grip and was soon pulling Elsa behind her across the karaoke bar. Elsa hurried to keep up with the girl, confused as to why everyone was staring at her so eagerly. It finally hit her once she was pushed up onto the stage, her bottle ripped out of her hand and a microphone shoved into it.

“Hey, there! What’s your name?” the emcee asked her, uncomfortable close to her face.

“Elsa,” she said. The crowd cheered. For a moment, Elsa thought it was for her; then, she realized that the other singer had graced the stage: Jack. Elsa’s stomach flipped. God was clearly fucking with her at this point.

“And your name, sir?” The emcee stepped away from Elsa, for which she was grateful. He had an unbearable amount of cologne on.

“Jack.” He winked out at the crowd. Elsa fought the urge to roll her eyes. Up here, everyone would see it.

“Alright! Jack and Elsa! It’s your lucky day because you two will be singing, "Don’t Go Breaking My Heart" by Sir Elton John and Kiki Dee. Give them some love!” The emcee ran off the stage as the monitor at the front of the stage queued up the lyrics and the music began to play over the speakers.

Elsa took a deep breath and closed her eyes, willing this all to be some terrible nightmare. She didn’t have to open them back up to know that it, unfortunately, wasn’t. She turned to look at Jack as the music picked up, getting closer to the part where they would have to begin singing. He smirked at her and shrugged. Of course. He was in his element: the center of attention. Elsa was not in hers, but she was grateful to have one advantage. She was just veering into the territory of drunk—sober enough to keep herself safe, but buzzed enough that she could do shit like this and rock it.

It was with that thought that Jack started singing, almost as if he’d read the epiphany in her head the second she’d had it. Elsa jumped in at her part, seamlessly melding her voice with his. Jack gave her a surprised look but kept on going. As the song continued on, Jack began to get into it, dancing and singing to her. Elsa played off of his energy, taking his hand when he held it out to her and letting him spin her around.

The crowd loved it. Off to the side, Elsa could see Anna, Rapunzel, and Merida sitting with what must have been Jack’s friends, pointing and smirking up at the two of them. Elsa would have glared if she had had the capacity, but the truth was that she was having too much fun to be pissed at her sister.

Jack was ridiculous, and while that fact usually bugged her, it was fun being silly beside him. She felt… free. It was strange, but fun. And when the song ended, as Jack dipped her, Elsa felt her stomach flip again as she stared into his blue eyes.

“Wow!” The emcee yelled into his microphone. Elsa flinched, and Jack pulled her up into a standing position. “What a performance! Give it up for Jack and Elsa!” The reality of what she had just done hit Elsa hard. She waved awkwardly before hurrying off the stage, heading straight for the entrance. Sure, her purse was at the table, but the landlord had a spare key and she had money at home so she could pay the taxi once she got there and—

“Elsa, wait!” Jack grabbed her arm as she fought against the crowd. She jumped and turned to yell at him, but he was already pulling them off to the side, to a space against the wall where there weren’t many people. “Where are you going?”

“Home. I’m tired, not that it’s any of your business.” She crossed her arms and looked everywhere but at his face.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked. Elsa’s racing thoughts paused at that.

“Why do you care?”

“Because… I’m allowed to? Human beings are allowed to care about other human beings.”

“You never seemed to before.” Elsa looked at Jack then, her gaze hard and unwavering.

“I don’t know what you mean…”

“We’re not friends, so don’t bother acting like it.”

“Hey,” Jack said, anger coloring his tone. “You’re the one who decided she didn’t want to be friends.”

“Me?” Elsa asked.

“Yeah, you.”

“That is a lie, and you know it.”

“How so?”

“How so? What do you mean how so?”

“How is it a lie?”

“You were the one who was making all of these friends and talking to all of these people and flashing that perfect smile around, while I was just trying to do my work and get noticed, but of course that couldn’t work out when I’m standing next to the great and charming Jack—”

Jack didn’t let her finish. He cradled the back of her head and pulled her mouth to his, kissing her hard. Elsa tensed for a moment before relaxing into it, her hands grabbing at his hair and urging him closer to her. They stumbled back against the wall, his body pressed into hers, his left hand a bruising grip on her waist.

Jack drew back with a gasp and leaned his forehead against Elsa’s. “What do you have to say about that, Miss Reporter?”

Elsa smirked. “Don’t go breaking my heart?”

Jack kissed her again.


End file.
